Contrary to weekend reports David Davis remains fully supportive of the government’s policy to end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK. On Saturday Davis’ ex-SpAd James Chapman said his former boss had been “hamstrung” by the commitment to leave the ECJ. Today’s Guardian claims there has been a “dramatic change of mood at DExEU since the general election”, erroneously suggesting Davis is now willing to make concessions on sovereignty and concede “political control“. These interventions are wide of the mark and do not represent Davis’ views, according to sources close to him.

The Brexit Secretary remains fully committed to the PM’s Lancaster House speech, which vowed to “bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain” and not “accept a role for the European Court of Justice that would see it still having direct legal authority in our country”. It is worth remembering that Davis himself set the ECJ red line in March, insisting there will be

“.. no future role for the European court in the interpretation of our laws and the bill will not oblige our courts to consider cases decided by the European Court of Justice after we have left..”

Allies of Davis insist he is not going soft on this key Brexit issue and say any suggestion to the contrary is mischief-making by anti-Brexit elements of the press. Indeed a DExEU spokesman flat out denied the Guardian’s story. A source says that Hammond, Davis, Boris and May are in agreement on all the major aspects of Brexit. Boris in particular would not countenance any backsliding on the ECJ issue. Chappers might be Davis’ former spinner but he is also an avowed Remainer, allies of DD find the notion he is still speaking for his former boss unlikely – to put it mildly. The key players agree on the overriding point that if the UK is still subject to the jurisdiction of the ECJ then we will have not taken back control…